After ten years with Expressions Dance Company (EDC), Elise May has announced her retirement from the company, to take up the role of associate lecturer of dance at Queensland University of Technology.
The award-winning dancer has performed in more than 45 EDC productions.
EDC artistic director Amy Hollingsworth paid tribute to May, saying, “Elise leaves an incredible legacy as EDC’s longest-serving ensemble member and a remarkable body of work as both a dancer and a choreographer.”
EDC’s former Artistic Director Natalie Weir, with whom May collaborated on more than 18 works over nine years, describes her as “an X-factor like none other”. “In every work we have created together, there is the ‘Elise moment’ – where the audience is knocked sideways by her,” remarks Weir.
For May, the departure is like leaving home. “Expressions Dance Company has been my creative home for the past decade, and somewhere I have felt safe to take risks and discover my creative voice, while being nurtured and encouraged to grow as an artist,” she comments.
Hollingsworth says May will remain an integral part of EDC through various roles, including as a guest lecturer at the company’s popular Brisbane Contemporary Dance Intensive.
May’s EDC swansong will see her latest work, The Play of Light, premiere at the inaugural Curious Arts Festival in March.